Create New Page

Siakal is the goddess of war, mass death and bloodshed in the oceans of the West.

Often she appears as a colossal shark more than 20 yards long, although she can also assume the form of a frightening slate-gray woman with lidless eyes, a mouth full of jagged teeth, a serrated sword of enchanted orca bone and a buff jacket of sharkskin. In any shape, Siakal revels in slaughter and destruction, though she especially favors sea battles because the losers sink beneath the waves and feed her bloodthirsty children.

Typically, Siakal advances her agenda through intimidation and the support of particularly bloody military campaigns. As beings of great valor, her fellow gods of war are rarely unsettled by threats of violence. Nonetheless, these divinities cannot discount the terrible ferocity of her servants and worshippers when contemplating the battlefields of Creation. Siakal cares little for bravery and honor, as she is primarily interested in carnage.

Western nations such as Wavecrest ban the worship of Siakal. Nonetheless, many soldiers cast a bit of animal blood into the sea before battle, and periodically an underground warrior cult proves so savage that the local ruler feels compelled to ruthlessly suppress it. Although many nations ban the veneration of Siakal, she is widely honored in the Coral Archipelago, among pirates and coastal raiders and by the dreaded Lintha.

In the Neck, only warriors who put to sea regularly give homage to Siakal, although some members of the Squalus tribe honor the goddess and her children as ancestors. Devout adherents, including many Lintha captains, wear specially carved shark-tooth amulets and raise pennants bearing her image when going into battle. Those familiar with the shark flag know they can expect no quarter from those who fly it.

Siakal accepts but one form of sacrifice. Living victims must be bloodied and thrown to the sharks. The goddess prefers the taste of Exalted flesh above all others. Guild fleets regularly propitiate the goddess before venturing into areas infested with her followers.